The Onceler's friend
by DementiaHasTakenOver
Summary: The Once-ler only wanted a friend...turns out she was more than he bargained for
1. Chapter 1

A/N- i dont own the lorax or any of the characters

Once-ler sighed and looked at the other kids playing.

It really bothered him that he had no friends while his idiot brothers were the most popular. It made no sense. He was smart and musically talented while his brothers were- quite honestly-stupid.

He closed his eyes and tried control the building frustration rising in his body.

Even though he was young, he knew the pain of rejection, loss, and bullying. His father died last year and ever since then he was treated horrible, well more horrible than he already was. He had been bullied by his mom, his brothers, his aunts and uncles, his cousins, his fellow classmates. Heck- even his teachers treated him bad. And since he had no one else to blame, he blamed himself.

He tried to be the best son his mom could ever ask for. He fixed breakfast in the mornings. And he was _nine._ He did the laundry, he did the cleaning. He got all a's on his report card. He took care of her and his brothers when they were sick. Yet all he got in return was, "You should have tried harder Once. You are never going to get anywhere in life."

He opened his eyes and took in the fresh air. He felt at peace for a moment, even with all the troubles going through his head.

_Smack_

The force of hurtling football hit Once-ler in the side of his head, causing him to fall off the bench and face plant in to the dirt. He heard the other children's laugh as hot tears welled up in his eyes. He stood up quickly and walked away, not daring to look back.

He kept walking till he got to the edge of town. Then he crumpled to his knees and began cry.

He didn't deserve this torture that he was forced to endure every moment of short life. At least his didn't think he did. He couldn't recall anything that would make him undergo this pain. His tears drowned out the sound of footsteps until they were right in front of him and stopped. He cautiously looked up, bracing himself for another round of abuse.

Then he saw _her._ The most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her bright spring green eyes looked down on him and her smile sent warmth through his entire body. The sun shined down on her bright orange hair, bringing out the gold traces within it. Her skin glowed a healthy tan and a small, slender hand reached out to him.

"Hello there," gosh, even her _voice_ was pretty," my name is Lorrie."

He sat at the edge of town with Lorrie. Her hand in his, both looking at the sunset. They had sat like that for hours. And Once-ler didn't mind one bit. They talked for hours about anything and _everything._ His parents, his life, his troubles, his dreams. Her dreams, her life, her cares.

He learned that she lived with her mom during fall and winter. She and her mom lived with her dad during spring and then she lived with her dad during the summer. But one thing kept bothering him.

"Uh-Lorrie. Will I ever see you again? Because-I mean- you know-"he gulped and scratched the back of his head. She merely giggled and said, "of course. Me and mom we travel around to all the cities. My mom wants to visit every city in the world twice. So I'll most likely be here again. One day." She stood up then helped Once-ler up.

"Once-ler. Don't let people pick on you. I may be a year younger but my daddy says I'm wiser than him so that means you have to take my advice. You are smart and kind. Don't let any of those mean peoples hurt you. Okay?" he only nodded and blushed.

"Lorrie! Let's go!"

Neither child noticed the woman standing a few yards behind them.

"Lorrie, c'mon! We have to leave now if we are ever going to make it to Halopsyville! It's the home of the Halop, you know?"

Lorrie giggled yet again and yelled back, "Yes mother!"

She looked back at Once-ler who was just staring at the ground. She turned to leave but stopped and turned back around. she gave Once-ler a quick hug and ran toward her impatient mother, calling over her shoulder, "bye Once! See you some day!"

Once-ler barely caught what she said because he was too focused on not passing out where he stood.

A/N- please tell me what you think and let me know if i should add more!


	2. Second Meeting

**A/N thanks to all who reviewed, and who are now following the story or its in their favorites list, you guys just made me infinitely happy!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything except Lorrie**

Once-ler sighed as he looks at the valley, reminiscing that day about 6 years ago, when he first met Lorrie. She has said she would come back, but now he doubted that.

In those 6 years, he had hit the dreaded but welcomed puberty. His voice deepened, he grew taller, learned to play the guitar, and now he _some_ friends…if he could even call them that. Oh and he developed a love for inventing things, things that might grab Lorrie's attention and have her back in his life lickity split. But, alas, his inventions weren't grabbing _anyone's_ attention. So he just gave up. After all his mother always said, "If it didn't work out the first time, don't try again." And at 17, he couldn't help but believe his mother. Gaining her approval would mean the most to him, so he always had to try to get, even if he told her to give up.

Once-ler stood at that precise moment to head off on another adventure of gathering materials to invent something new.

And then something hit him.

He felt himself knocked to ground, a pounding headache already forming. He sat up in a daze, wondering what on earth hit him. He let out a groan as he rubbed his head. He heard a giggle and then realized something was sitting on his chest, or rather _someone_ was sitting on his chest.

He looked down carefully only to be met with bright green eyes.

Lorrie looked up into his soft brown eyes and grinned happily.

"Ello Oncey!"

She watched as recognition dawned upon him and before she knew it, he was standing up and twirling her around.

"Lorrie! Lorrie! Lorrie!" he kept shouting. She only giggled and grinned at her friend's reaction.

When he finally put her down and stop saying her name, he bombarded her with questions.

"What towns did you go to? Where did you stay? Did you meet new people? Did you make new friends? What did you see? Did any of your new friends have any weird talents? Do you-"

He halted as heard her trying, but failing, at stifling her laughter.

"What?"

"Nothing," she replied with a chuckle," but c'mon. Follow me. I know a place where we can talk alone." She wove her hand through his; not noticing the blush that suddenly appeared on his face. She led him a where a tent stood along with a couple chairs.

She looked at him carefully as he took a seat.

He's definitely not short anymore, she mused, and his hair looks good but he still seems just as awkward as he was all those years ago. She let out a snort, immediately grabbing the attention the older boy.

He gave her a questioning look as she sat down.

Once-ler stared Lorrie, taking note of all the changes as she retold all of her adventures that she and mother went on over the past years.

For one thing, her shining emerald eyes were even brighter and her beautiful orange hair was longer and now held in a loose braid, the gold traces in it, also seemed brighter. She had gotten tanner and had definitely matured. In more ways than one. Heat rose to his face again as he attempted to push the thoughts out of his head.

"-so I'm living with my dad fulltime now and-"

"What? Why? Where's your mom?"

She was silent for a moment before saying, "once, she died a year ago. She got really sick but she wanted to keep travelling no matter how much I protested. And then one day, she didn't wake up. So I went to live with my dad. But he said I could keep travelling... you know, to help make my mom's dream to come true." She spoke barely above a whisper.

"Oh Lorrie, I didn't know I'm so sorry-"

"Don't worry about you didn't know" she offered a watery smile and this time he took her hand and smiled back.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. Holding each other's hand, sitting a comfortable silence.

"ONCE! WHERE ARE YOU? YOU BETTER ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!" came a voice and Once-ler stood up immediately.

"Mother is calling me I better go."

Lorrie nodded silently as they stood up. H e let go of her hand as he heard his mother's voice echo again, except this time she came into the clearing, stopping her yelling as she saw her son and the strange girl.

"um-darling, who is this?" she said in an obvious mock cheery voice.

"Mother, this is Lorrie. Lorrie, this is my mother."

Lorrie stepped forward and offered her hand, "It's very nice to meet you ma'am."

Once-ler's mother sniffed.

"I wish I could say the same," Lorrie brought her hand back to her side, and his mother continues on, "Once, dinner was supposed to be on the table nearly half an hour ago. Don't you know that if your brothers get cranky when they don't eat?"

Once-ler kept his eyes on the ground mumble something that sounded like "yes mum."

His mother turned on her heel and stalked off calling Once-ler to follow her and to hurry up.

Once-ler turned to Lorrie and opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Lorrie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him. She stood there until he hugged her back and then they parted. He turned around began to walk away but then stopped abruptly.

"Lorrie! Wait! Will I ever see you again?"

She only smiled and recited a poem that her dad used to tell her when she was little.  
"I live beyond the deserts, valleys, and seas. I live among the truffula trees..." she gave him a wave and left him to find his way home and figure out where truffula trees were….

**A/N 2 ½ pages! Hopefully now the story can actually get going! Oh and ill update if I can get at least 3-6 more reviews please!**


	3. Claire and The Lorax

**A/N hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews! School is starting back up and I won't be able to update a lot, but I will try to get them on here as soon as I write them! Thanks! J Oh and this story will be made mostly about Lorrie because I can't go any further than I am right now because I need to watch the movie again to get details right. Okay, on with the show!**

Lorrie looked out at the valleys, breathing in the sweet smell she came to love even more than she already did. She sat down against one of trees, running her hands through the silky soft grass, a smile appearing on her face. She had been 'visiting' her dad for the past week and planned to set out tomorrow to other towns then she would be back again. It was her dad's main rule.

It was six in the morning so she knew none of the swomee swans or bar-ba-loots would be out. She let out a giggle, remembering the larger bear's antics of yesterday. Seriously when would he learn not to steal fruit?

Lorrie looked around at the truffula trees, loving the vibrant colors of the 'leafs'.

She closed her and felt at peace for a moment.

_ Crack_

She sighed and opened one eye, immediately seeing her dad trying to creep away carefully.

"Dad?" she asked in an irritated voice.

The Lorax turned around slightly. "Oh Hey Lorrie, I was just-um-I mean-I"

"Yes?" she replied, tapping her fingers.

He let out a dejected sigh.

"I was looking for you. "

She brightened up almost immediately, happy to hear he wasn't just making his rounds to check on the trees.

"Oh, well come over here!" she patted the seat next to her on the ground.

The Lorax gave her a wary look before sitting next to her. He looked up into her cheery face and sighed again,

"Just like your mother, you are, with your mood changes." He grumbled.

Her eyes twitched, "oh?" He not seeing the error, nodded his head vigorously.

"Yep! You talk like her and you have her positive attitude and need to travel. She was like that even when we first met." he let out a small chuckle.

Lorrie only watched him, her curiousness getting the better of her. The Lorax took that as a sign to go on.

"Now Lorrie if you didn't know this, I wasn't always this short-"Lorrie let out a snort and he shot her a glare, immediately shutting her up.

"Now as I was saying. I am old as time itself; I just wasn't always this way. I used to be what you kids would call a '_stud_'. You know what I mean, now don't give that look, I was tall and less….furry. I had the appearance of a human. Now that was something I always took for granted but now I wish I had treasured it a little more." He was quiet for a moment, seeming lost in a memory. He shook his head and resumed.

"I met your mother when she was about 22 years old. She was just passing through with her family. I saw her and was immediately smitten. And slowly as the weeks passed by, she fell in love with me. And by the end of summer, we were dating. I asked her stay with but I knew she wouldn't. Her love for me wasn't as great as her love of seeing new things. So she said one day she would come back. We continued our love through letters.

But soon I was called into the magical court. I had broken the most important rule. Don't fall in love with a human. Of course I knew that rule by heart, but my heart was also telling me that she was what I really wanted. The judge took pity on me and lessened my punishment. I was to take this form and to protect this forest with my life. I had to speak for the trees. Though I used to live there just helping out with small stuff, I had to protect it from anything that would harm these trees or theses creatures.

I took on the responsibility knowing that this was only way besides death. And for the next 2 years that's what I did. I protected this place as if it was my child, always going through the motions. I was not allowed to contact your mother at all so I had no reason to live but then I came you care for this place, for the creatures, for the _trees_. So I became more serious about this forest. Then three years later, out of the blue. You and your mother showed up. You were 5 years old at the time, it was summer and when you saw the tress you went up and began hugging all of them. Then Claire came to me, she recognized my eyes, she said. She couldn't stay but had wanted me to meet my daughter," he paused for a moment to wipe a tear and nudge Lorri," and from that moment on, you and the trees became my reason for living."

Lorrie hugged her dad, joyous that he would share something like that with her.

"Daddy, I love you."

"I love you too, Lorrie."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, The Lorax treasuring this moment, hating when he would have to let go.

**A/N okay I know. Not very long and not very good. Give me time, I'm working on it! :P**


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